This is a list of technologies which in some way (perhaps unintentionally) marginalize some users based on gender, race, class, sexual orientation, disability, etc. It provides motivation for having a diverse group of people participate in creating technologies.
General issues
- Much software has problems with accessibility, making it unusable for people with visual impairment or other disabilities.
- Much software makes very restrictive assumptions about people's names, some common examples being that everyone has exactly two "important" parts to their name, that everyone's name is written in Latin characters, or that names do not contain "special characters" like hyphens. See for example Who is harmed by a "Real Names" policy? and Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names.
- Much software relies on United States-specific addressing information, such as requiring ZIP codes and selection of a US state of residence. (Even "postal code" which is sometimes used as a substitute, isn't universal. See Falsehoods programmers believe about addresses) Websites that only accept US credit cards or only ship to US addresses often do not make this plain before the customer has invested considerable energy in assembling a purchase.
Specific examples
- The HP MediaSmart webcam fails to track darker-skinned faces . HP says that It's "built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose."
- One of the X11 , HTML , and CSS color names is "Indian Red".
- The options for "relative" in the iOS address book do not include "cousin". This marginalizes cultures in which extended families retain close ties.
- A large portion of website registration forms ask for the user's gender but only provide options "female" and "male".
- Some forms provide the third option "other", which many genderqueer people find just as marginalizing.
- git doesn't allow retroactive name changes.
- Facebook, and perhaps other social networking sites, don't allow users who are in open relationships to list themselves as "in a relationship" with more than one person.
- Computer games with romance/sex plotlines or mechanics often have restrictions on relationships:
- no, or fewer, options for same-gender relationships
- not allowing consensual or publicly known relationships with more than one partner